Best of Instagram 2017
We love Instagram! In 2017, we made a conscious decision to focus on our favourite social media platform, and have really enjoyed sharing images, not only of our own products, but of the artisans who weave for us and their locality, homes, buildings and interiors that inspire us, or speak to us, and art and design that we admire. It's been really interesting looking back over the year's posts to see which have had the most interest, engagement and comments from our fantastic Instagram community. And of course, we love catching up with all the accounts we follow, and seeing what everyone is posting and discussing.
Here's a round up of our top 6 posts posts from the year - we very much look forward to more chats and interaction with our community in 2018 - join us!
Slightly surprisingly (although possibly not, due to the interest in eco-friendly and responsible building materials?) this barn, above, by Dutch architecture firm Workshop Architecten, was our No. 1 most liked post, and also had the most engagement. This barn showcases the ancient Japanese art of Shou Sugi Ban or charred wood cladding, which we find fascinating. Not only does the charring impart a wonderful texture and depth of colour to the wood, it also makes it naturally fire-proof, negating the need for chemical treatments - a truly environmentally-friendly preservative.
In at No. 2 is this lovely image from Stitch by Stitch founder Graham Hollick, taken on one of his travels to Kutch during the Diwali festival. Animals are worshipped, and often decorated, on the fourth day of Diwali.
Our third most popular post was this image of our Chindi quilt and cushions which we had taken for our lifestyle shoot at colour consultant Sophie Roet's lovely London home, by Josh van Gelder of The Old School Studio. It was essential for us to convey the soft handle and drape of the quilt, and I think Josh captured these qualities perfectly. See more from the shoot here.
Our Khamir Cubes Quilt in Homes and Gardens Magazine, January 2017
Right at the start of the year, our Khamir Cubes Quilt was featured in the January issue of Homes and Gardens in this great shoot entitled Highland Folk. We love the rustic cabin setting, and it was lovely to see our quilt layered with bed linen from Volgan Linen and the blue and white throw from Burrel Mountains Originals. Our Jannu radhi rug was also used in another fireside image. You can read more on the Homes and Gardens blog here. This image was a popular Instagram post for us.
This detail of our Kukuben embroidered cushion came in at No.5. These traditional stitches from Kutch are embroidered only by women, who learn them as young girls from their mothers. Often, they are practiced over years, embroidering an elaborate wedding skirt. We took a selection of traditional stitches and threaded them together with wandering lines of kantha stitching to produce this design, which we named after one of our very first embroiderers.
Photo by Navtej Singh
Finally, this incredible image reposted from photographer Natty Singh of flamingoes in flight over the Rann of Kutch, understandably prompted lots of comments. This area is where our weavers live and work. It's a vast salt marsh, desert for most of the year, but flooding during the monsoon to become a haven for birdlife. Check out Natty Singh's Instagram - his series of portraits of the Rabaris of Gujarat, traditional nomadic herders and spinners of wool, is just wonderful.